Sharp decline in new development sales, but prices rise in Manhattan, Brooklyn

Though new development sales slowed severly in Manhattan and Brooklyn in recent months, prices are mostly on the upswing, according to third quarter Manhattan and Brooklyn new development sales reports released today by residential brokerage MNS.

In Manhattan, the number of sponsor sales recorded in public records declined 18 percent from the second quarter, while in Brooklyn that figure fell off a cliff, to the tune of a 34 percent drop. However, the median sales price per square foot in that same period rose 4 percent in Manhattan to $1,243, and 3 percent in Brooklyn to $594. As for overall sales figures, in Manhattan the median price gained 10 percent since the third quarter of 2010 to about $1.5 million, and in Brooklyn it rose 7 percent to about $600,000.

Manhattan’s hottest neighborhood for new developments, according to the report, was Chelsea, where the average price per square foot jumped to $1,409 from $1,142 the quarter before. Still, Greenwich Village was the priciest neighborhood at about $2,050 per square foot. The Lower East Side showed the biggest drop among Manhattan neighborhoods to $940 per square foot, although the area’s figures fluctuate wildly because of a lack of new stock in the neighborhood.

In Brooklyn, Carroll Gardens had the largest quarterly upswing going to $703 per square foot from $626, while Crown Heights suffered the largest plunge to $477 from $571. Prospect Heights is the borough’s priciest neighborhood, averaging almost $950 per square foot.

The priciest new development sale in the third quarter in Manhattan occurred in the Metal Shutter Houses, located at 524 West 19th Street in Chelsea, where a penthouse went for $11.46 million, while in Brooklyn a $2.64 million sale at One Brooklyn Bridge Park was the most expensive of the quarter. – Adam Fusfeld